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Aug 6, 2014

Wednesday, August 6, 2014 Jeff Stillman

Theme: OUT OF THIS WORLD. The unifier says it all. 55 A. What 20-, 33- and 40-Across begin with : NASA PROGRAMS. Since 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has been responsible for the civilian space program, as well as for aeronautics and aerospace research.

20. Car that replaced the Marquis : MERCURY SABLE. The Mercury Marquis was produced from 1967 to 1986. The SABLE ran from 1986 to 2005, then reappeared in the '08 and '09 model years as the rebranded Montego. NASA's MERCURYprogram ran from 1959 - 63, playing catch up after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 in 1957, and went on to put Yuri Gagarin in orbit in April, 1961, 9 months ahead of John Glenn, thus beating NASA in this leg of the space race.

33. 1981 Moody Blues hit : GEMINI DREAM.

Project GEMINI included 10 manned flights in 1965 and '66, with the goal of developing space travel techniques to be used in the APOLLO program.

40. Rocky Balboa foe who became his friend : APOLLO CREED. This character is loosely based on Muhammad Ali, fought Rockey in the first two movies, and didn't become his friend until the third.

The APOLLO project ran from 1961 through '72, and included 6 moon landings. The first of these was APOLLO 11. On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed in the Sea of Tranquility and walked on the lunar surface, while Michael Collins remained in orbit. They returned with 47.7 pounds of samples.

This theme demands a theme song -- so, obviously:

Hi gang. JzB here, flying rather high at the moment. Let's launch into today's puzzle and see if we can soar.

Across

1. Cropped up : AROSE. Figurative, not a launch.

6. "Dark Chords on a Big Guitar" folksinger : BAEZ. Album title, not a song.

10. Alpine transport : T-BAR. Ski lift. T or J - always need a perp.

14. Tester of Job's faith : SATAN. That snake!

15. Uma's role in "The Producers" : ULLA. Ulla Inga Hansen-Bensen-Yanson-Tallen-Hallen-Svaden-Swanson Bloom shows up to audition, long before Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom are ready to start casting. By the end of the show, she and Leo run off to Rio and marry.

30. Bit of work : ERG. Mechanical work is the application of a force to move an object of some mass through some distance. The erg is a tiny unit, one ten millionth of a Joule. One of my profs jokingly defined it as the work done by one fly doing one push up.

36. Irritate but good : RILE. When I RILEd my father, it was not good.

38. Guggenheim display : ART. The museum, of course.

39. Carpal or tarsal starter : META. METAcarpals are the bones in the hand, METAtarsals are the bones in the foot.

45. Animal house : DEN. Would you see a movie called "DEN?"

46. Boardwalk locale : SEASIDE. I was expecting something more specific, but ATLANTIC CITY doesn't fit.

There was a lass, they ca'd her Meg,
And she held o'er the moors to spin;
There was a lad that follow'd her,
They ca'd him Duncan Davison.
The moor was driegh, and Meg was skiegh,
Her favour Duncan could na win;
For wi' the roke she wad him knock.
And ay she shook the temper-pin.

8. Movie lioness : ELSA. Not Nala.

9. Big name on the ice : ZAMBONI. The machine that resurfaces the rink between periods of hockey games.

10. Pre-Christmas destination for many : TREE FARM. For the traditionalists.

11. Jack's hiding place : BOX. Until you get him cranked up.

12. Court org. : A B A. American Bar Association. Law, not tennis

13. "Man on the Moon" band : R E M. Very apropos selection by the band from Athens, GA.

26. 52-Down, for one : STATE. Of the Union, and the ENSUING but non-seqential

52. Kennebunkport locale : MAINE. City and State

27. Macho dude : HE MAN. Why is there no corresponding SHE WOMAN?

29. Pre-deal payment : ANTE. For a poker game, not a business arrangement. Clever clue.

30. Take off the DVR : ERASE. Remove from the Digital Video Recorder.

31. Go from green to red, perhaps : RIPEN. As fruit. But, in the case of blackberries, when they're red, they're green. I am not making this up.

32. Rub it in : GLOAT. Being a bad winner.

34. Nutmeg spice : MACE. Inside the fruit of the nutmeg tree is the seed, which is partially covered with a lacy red aril. When dried and ground, the aril is the spice MACE. The seed is the spice nutmeg, also usually used in ground form.

35. Like some vbs. : IRRegular. A verb whose conjugation does not follow the typical patterns of the language is irregular.

37. "Hamlet" castle : ELSINORE. Helsingør is a real place, on the northeast coast of the island of Zeeland in the east of Denmark.

41. "Kiss Me Deadly" rocker Ford : LITA. From 1988, her most successful song. As far as I know, it has nothing to do with the noir movie drama of the same name from 1955.

42. Homeric journey : ODYSSEY. The epic 10-year-long journey of Odysseus [Ulysses to the Romans] returning home to Ithaca after the Trojan War, attributed to Homer, ca. 8th century B. C.

43. River through Spain : EBRO. It flows from the north-east to the southwest, and empties into the Mediterranean Sea.

44. Round-trippers : DINGERS. Baseball slang for home runs.

48. Shakespearean attendant : VARLET. A man or boy acting as a attendant or servant. I thought it was the guy who parked your car.

50. Hit the bottom of : SPANK. A form of corporal punishment in which the buttocks of the penitent are truck, typically with the open hand.

51. Hard-to-ignore impulses : URGES. If not controlled, can lead to SPANKing.

57. Blackjack 11-pointer : ACE. Can be high for 11 points, or low for 1, at the player's discretion. Face cards are 10 each.

58. Israeli weapon : UZI. An open-bolt submachine gun, originally designed by Major Uziel Gal in the late 40's.

59. Pit goo : TAR. Reference is to the tar pits of La Brea, CA. I'll stoke some controversy by contending that La Brea Tar Pit is not redundant because La Brea is a place name, while a tar pit is a thing.

It's been a great week so far. Today, I blogged this out of this world puzzle by Jeff, yesterday we saw my collaboration with C.C, Monday was Gloria's birthday, and on Sunday, I did this. Not a perfect performance, I warbled a few notes, but I'm pleased with it.

67 comments:

When NASA sent men into spaceIt was part of a Cold War race.The race is now doneBut we haven't yet wonUntil humans in space have a place!

MERCURY sped men up there solo.GEMINI sent duos to follow.APOLLO, with threeFrom Earth-bond went free.I wish they could send me tomorrow!~~~~~~~~~~Sticky, but got it done with just a few write-overs. NYLON>BUTYL, TOY STORE>TREE FARM, TRAM>T-BAR, DDD{ΔΔΔ}>DEN, ERIN>EIRE. Needed nearly all of the perps before I recognized BAEZ, ZAMBONI, GEMINI, SURNAMES, VARLET. DINGERS I didn't know at all.

Very crunchy Wednesday puzzle, but ultimately doable (with the help of a few WAGs). I thought the theme was going for Greek gods at first, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover the NASA connection.

I almost crashed and burned at the crossing of ULLA and BUTYL, but the U seemed like a likely candidate. ELLA seemed more likely for the name, but BETYL just seemed wrong.

I had STAR before STAG, which tripped me up a bit.

DINGERS was a complete unknown that required all the perps. ELSINORE, on the other hand, only required most of the perps before the name finally rang a bell.

I had no idea that MACE (which I've vaguely heard of) had anything to do with nutmeg. In fact, I had no idea that nutmeg was a combination of spices to begin with. Live and learn.

I zipped through this one pretty quickly. Wanted MONOPOLY for the Boardwalk location and started with SANCTI and INT for the verb. Those speedbumps were easy to get over. I did miss the reveal, because it was already filled in.

Interesting that both mace and nutmeg come from the same plant. Wonder if there are any other multi-spice plants out there? Anybody know?

I found this an easy going Wednesday puzzle that had a few unknowns that were easily solved. But John Glenn was not the first American in space. ALAN SHEPARD was. DINGER is a term that I have never heard used for a home run, but I don't haven't watched a professional baseball game in over 20 years. Only college and grandkids' games. Is VARLET and alternate spelling of VALET? LITA and ULLA came strictly from the crosses.

On the 7D clue, I didn't know whether it would be "There was A LASS, and they ca'd her Meg" or "There was AN ASS, and they called her my ex-wife"

Alas, a rare Wednesday DNF for me. I had absolutely no clue what a *INGER was, and never watched any of the "Rocky" movies, so APOLLO CREE* meant nothing. So, what to put in that blank spot? Hmmm...in checkers, when you say "King me" you get to go back to your own side of the board. And APOLLO CREEk sounded perfectly plausible. Oops!

I also had NASA "missions" at first, before the perps started screaming at me to get rid of it.

Oh well, at least I enjoyed your write-up, Jazzb. You certainly have had an entertaining week, haven't you? And thanks for entertaining us with your horn-tootin' from Sunday.

Ya know those puzzles where you are on the constructor’s wavelength and sail right through? This wasn’t one of them for me but this NASA educator had a great time and learned much. Of course, the theme stood out like a brick in a punchbowl for me.

Musings-The MERCURY rockets were modified V2's built for the man Patton called “that paper hanging SOB”-TRAM not TBAR bollixed up the NE corner for a while-ULLA - talk about yer ogling-I coulda had a ROBE from one of our upscale hotels for $90-Radar had Colonel Blake INTIAL a document to show he initialed rather than signed-M*A*S*H’s final episode had the title, Goodbye, Farewell and AMEN which was watched by 122 million people with a 77% share -Boardwalk locale NEXT TO GO? One too many letters-Funny line Ben Franklin from the play 1776 about oxen and STEERS - Nor would I, were I given the full rights of an Englishman. But to call me one without those rights is like calling an ox a bull. He's thankful for the honor, but he'd much rather have restored what's rightfully his-What in the world happened to Duncan in that poem?-I taped a shuttle launch up close and then accidentally ERASED it by taping Letterman over the top-Do you see SPANKing as effective punishment or lazy parenting?

This was definitely not a Wednesday level puzzle. For me, it was a DNF due to Ella/Ulla and BIV/Varlet. I have been a baseball fan since I was very young (4 brothers and Dad) and I have never heard home runs referred to as dingers. (Neither has auto-correct.)

Credit to Jeff for his efforts, but I didn't enjoy this journey. 25D says it all! Thanks, JazzB, for an informative expo.

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Jeff Stillman, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Jazzbumpa, for a fine review. Nice to see you twice in a week.

Most of the puzzle was pretty straight forward.

Had ALLENTE for a while. ANDANTE became the answer after a Down corrected me.

BIV was a piece of cake. As was UZI. As was ATRA (crosswordese).

S STAR was not easy. I will have to bone up on outer space.

DINGERS was not easy. I was initially thinking of DINGIES, as in small boats.

Theme was outstanding. Great job!

Nice day in PA.

I have been inundated with Words With Friends via Facebook. I really enjoy playing that game, but when I get words at 1:00 AM and 5:30 AM, and my phone goes off to tell me, it becomes a little much. Oh well, such is our society and all our toys.

Hello, puzzlers! All hail to you, Jazzbumpa, on your triumphant week. Thank you for entertaining and explicating.

For the most part I enjoyed this puzzle and initially thought it must be about outer space, which in a way, it was including the S-STAR.

I knew ELSINORE and ELIOT but not APOLLOCREED or DINGERS so that section proved to be my Natick and had to look it up. I wasn't sure about VARLET either when it emerged. And I should have channeled Barry G. at ULLA because I stayed with ELLA and BUTYL seemed right.

Otherwise, thank you to Jeff Stillman for a fine offering.

It's a sad day in our family as my sister-in-law died yesterday. She had been ill a very long time.

Jazz, I would have much preferred the David Bowie link (above) to the totally forgettable Moody Blues song of 1991 - and what about those haircuts….1970s maybe but 1990s?….ouch!

• And such a contrast to SINATRA, oozing class. The voice may have lost a little power, but the sense of phrasing was still as perfect as ever.

• Do Americans use the word "seaside" as in "I'm going to the seaside". I never heard it this side of the pond. We have a universal ditty in Brit-Land:

"Oh I do love to be beside the seasideI do love to be beside the seaWhen I'm beside the sea I'm beside myself with gleeBeside the seaside, beside the sea"(Repeat ad nauseam ).

I whistle the tune whenever I or a friend hit their shot into a bunker (formerly known as sand-trap), but no-one seems to get it.

• SANCTUM (=holy place) is the Latin neuter form (so plural SANCTA) of SANCTUS (the masculine form). The Latter is known chiefly as the opening refrain in the hymn at the start of Mass. "Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus = Holy, Holy, Holy, etc.) referring presumably to the "three-in-one" nature of God in the Christian tradition. So I suppose you might combine them into the plural, Sancti. It would spoil the hymn though.

I had NASA PROBLEMS for the longest time. I kind of like that better, especially since I wouldn't know the difference between a DINBER and a DINGER. I grew up with baseball and do not recall that term--then again, I also never knew that I was riding on BUTYL as I biked to practice. Luckily, I realized that Meine was not a state.

I found this puzzle a bit harder than the usual Wednesday challenge. At first, I didn't know how to spell ODYSSEY. A ERG is a very little bit of work. Interesting that from a physics point of view, you can hold a heavy weight until you perspire but you are not doing any work until you lift it or put it down.

Lucina, I'm sorry to hear about your sister-in-law. Best wishes from me.

Our street is being resurfaced today. We are stuck inside except for my being able to ride my bike on the sidewalk to my older car that I parked a block away. Oh well, it's only once every 10 years or so.

This certainly was a Wednesday toughie. Thank goodness for the literary items--ELSINORE, ODYSSEY, ELIOT--otherwise I might never have finished. Had the same hesitation as Barry with ULLA/BUTYL and was endlessly puzzled by 44D and, like Marti, just had to guess. I put DINGERS only because CREED sounded best to me for the name. So, whew, I did it, but it was really a challenge.

Fun write-up and pics, JazzB, many thanks.

Dear Lucina, so sorry to hear about the loss of your sister-in-law. My heart goes out to you and your family.

I can never remember blue-indigo-violet, perped with an unheard of dinger, & obscure varlet did me in.

Notes:

I have driven an Odyssey Minivan for many years, & yet I still have trouble spelling it...

I still think shaggy Tibetans should be Yeti.

Ever since I heard Rachael Ray say adding nutmeg to cheese sauces makes people say, Hmm, what is that? & found out Alton Brown carries a nutmeg in his pocket, I have wanted to know more about this spice. So today is the day:

Hi Y'all! Enjoyed this puzzle, Jeff! Great expo, JzB! Enjoyed all the music, especially your solo with its mellow tones. I thought the "warbles" were grace notes or flourishes of some kind.

Gimmee: I owned a '97 MERCURY SABLE. Loved it.

Hand up for never hearing of DINGERS. (Ding-a-lings is another matter.) I had trouble with the "R" cross of that and RENTA. I was looking for a class of car or something. DUH!

Last to fill was EXAM. Didn't know a band named REM or that Jack hid in a BOX. Duh! Was expecting something more earth-shaking for "class struggle".

Never saw the Rocky movies so didn't know APOLLO CREED. Nor did I know GEMINI DREAM but both perped in with final letter WAGs.

SPANKING: My oldest child had to be SPANKED or she would have died before age 4 because of her mindless exuberance (running into the street, etc.). The next two kids only needed a good talking to. The fourth child needed creative punishment. You could have beaten him bloody without any noticeable effect. (He's the AF pilot, a warrior).

OwenKL @ 5:52 - liked your l'ricks today. Have you thought about starting a limerick blog in addition to the cryptic one?

WEES, this had more of a "late week" feel than that of hump day. I didn't have to look anything up until after finishing and confirming a couple of WAG's. I thought 54D was a Cincinnati Red star and was trying to figure out how to shoehorn BENCH or PEREZ in there! Also, I originally had SHEEP instead of STEER which made VARLET look funny, but then again, VARLET looked funny when I confirmed it was correct!! ;^)

Hand up for having STAR before STAG in 60A; guilty here. Also I tried two different ways to spell APOLLO - why I thought it was APPOLO is beyond me, especially now, when I type it here . . .

Loved the clues/solves for 19A, 4D, 9-10-11D, 31-32D, 44D, 50D and 57D. ACE is used often in crossword puzzles but I can't recall seeing that clue (Blackjack 11-pointer) before. ASAMI (ditto) for Jack's hiding place = BOX. I first thought Jack Horner and PIE, but then again, it was just his thumb in the dessert, not the "whole" Jack!

"A STEER is a bull calf that has be neutered. In 2-3 yrs. it grows into an ox." As a cattleman's wife, I never knew that. On our farm, after a year or so, a steer was fattened into choice beef steak, roasts, and hamburger. No oxen at our place. Guess oxen were no longer needed for muscle once we had diesel tractors.

Some movie we saw as youngsters had the words, "Unhand me you VARLET!" My sister, brother & I picked up on that quote and used it liberally when someone grabbed onto us. Didn't exactly know what a VARLET was until today, but I had enough perps to know VARLET was needed here.

Speaking of SPANK(s), my favorite of all time is from this episode of Big Bang Theory. It's 2:10 long but worth watching. A classic; currently my favorite TV Sitcom. Glad they (CBS) worked out a deal with the actors . . .

I might add that female cattle were keep for breeding purposes to build up the herd and never used for meat until they could no longer have calves. Then the whole cow was ground for hamburger because it was too old and tough for choice cuts. I wouldn't STEER you wrong on this.

Harder than I expected for a Weds pzl, but I learned the word BUTYL. This was 100%, but it took longer than usual and I needed all the perp help I could get.I had STANK before SPANK and TO GO before AUTO (anyone else?), but those were the only ones needing replacement.

JazzB, Congrats on your puzzle yesterday. "Slide " Hampton should have been in there.As for today's video, umm........ you "warbled" a few notes, but you were pleased with your performance?There were more clams than right notes in that solo. You were sharp and the tempo was too slow, which is the conductor's fault. PK thought they were grace notes. You can fool some of the people...well you know the rest.

To me, spanking is placing a child on their belly and over your lap and basically beating their butt. Horrible! Don't believe in it.

Good puzzle, hated BIV, still don't get it. We rented a Mercury Sable years ago on a family vacation in FL, loved it! Actually thought of getting one when our 1990 Volvo wagon died... but we got another Volvo.

ROY G BIV represents all the colors of a rainbow and a prism. Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Violet. The initials spell Roy G Biv. This was in the write- up, as well. Learned that as a youth in school and never forgot it.

My dear blog friends, thank you so much for your expressions of sympathy. This Corner truly is a source of support and I appreciate it. I was very close to my SIL though she was widowed 28 years ago when my brother died. From that marriage she has one daughter with whom I am also very close. She is, of course, devastated as are her other two children from a previous marriage.

Linda was admitted to the hospital last Thursday for testing and was found to have lung cancer. But it was already too late.

Late finishing today due to interruptions, and need to return to the puzzle several times. Difficulty hit me as a Friday level. Couple Naticks at CREED/DINGERS amd TBAR/REL didn't help. Also took awhile to get ODYSSEY spelt right.

I'm with Owen K never heard of dingers. I put in nasa projects that had me at deejers for dingers. Hey records are round and I did it back in the vinyl days but had butyl instead of vinyl. Had to google a couple but did finish with the help.

T.Dorsey: I assumed you wrote your review with tongue planted firmly in cheek! As such, it was good, but you've got to be more careful. Do you know how many Onion stories Snopes has had to debunk? I did learn one new word from you, not that it's ever likely to be of any use to a deaf man.

Owen @ 6:15My review was accurate. I'm not deaf.Anyone who thought that performance was acceptable is also deaf.I'm sure he's a nice guy and I enjoy his reviews and comments, but that song is way beyond his chops. Owen, look that one up, and while you're at it, look up woodshed.

C.E.D - Master Linkletter, thanks for your videos on Nutmeg and Mace. They are not two 'different' spices, in the sense they have very similar flavors, but Mace has a little more delicate flavor and adds a nice orange color in dishes made with milk etc. where the color matters. Since Mace, being the aril, is only 10% of the total weight, of the nut, it is consequently 3 or 4 times more expensive, per pound. The oleoresin, which is the steam distilled chemical liquor, is 20 to 30 times more expensive.

Many herb seeds and their resulting plants are both spices and herbs, like Cumin, Anise, Caraway, Dill, Bishop's Weed and Fennel.

Bill G. wrote.'Interesting from a physics point of view, you can hold a heavy weight until you perspire but you are not doing any work until you lift it or put it down.'

This is absolutely right, from a strict physics point of view.

Since Work = Force x distance = F x d, and d=0, Work is zero.

However effort is required to hold up the heavy weight, your muscular systems have to expend their stored energy, to oppose the acceleration due to gravity. This uses up your store of energy and stamina and tires you out. This energy, in short, is expended as heat within your body.

From the Grammarist site: The original phrase is iced tea, and this spelling is still more common in print. Yet for many English speakers, ice tea more closely resembles the pronunciation, and this spelling has gained significant ground in 21st-century writing. There might still be some English speakers who consider it incorrect, but it is common in informal writing and is even making inroads in edited publications.

Other terms have undergone this shift. For example, ice cream and ice water were originally iced cream and iced water. Those are common terms, so there is certainly precedent for iced tea becoming ice tea. Yet for some reason iced tea has stuck around long after those terms lost the d. It could be simply that those terms are older and have had more time to change, while iced tea needs another decade or two to become ice tea.

Rocky I - scrapper goes against the Champ (APOLLO CREED) and loses, but goes all 16 rounds. Rocky - II - Rematch; Rocky wins. Rocky III - he goes against Mr. T and APOLLO helps Rocky prep. At the end of III, a friendly match between the two.. IV Rock fights the Russian on 'roids and, well, they should have stopped at III.

Spitzbov, while we're at it, when did "waxed paper" become "wax paper"? I hate the deterioration of this language that I studied and love. I know that I'm an old fogey and that English is constantly evolving, but that doesn't mean that I must like it. I will continue to rail against the devolution of my native tongue. OK, rant over.

Bluehen & Bill G - I disagree. If it falls within the symbolic construct and conveys meaning,* it works as communication. Surest we've drop'th endings before ice-ed tea :-) I say iced-coffee; but tea can be iced tea or ice tea in my verbal lexicon - we knoweth thea are same, no?

Bill G, Great commercial. On a par (?) with the Lee Trevino commercial where he bounced the ball off of the ground with what appears to be sand wedge and plops the ball into his shirt pocket while saying " Never play golf with a guy who can do this". Thanks for the link.

Anon T, good to hear from you. As I said, I know that the English language is constantly evolving. But when what I perceive as laziness in pronunciation changes usage, it rankles me. Good to hear about the DW and her background. I was an English major here and for some reason that I'll never fathom, I received a scholarship to continue those studies in England.It was an eye-opener. I found more love of, more respect for, and more proper usage of, the "Queens English" in America than the UK. Sorry, Cuppa.